A look at the lives of some of the Fort Hood victims

The military hasn't released the names of the 13 victims killed at Fort Hood. The following list of 11 of the victims was compiled from various news agencies, including the San Antonio Express-News, and based on interviews with their families.

Compiled from Express-News and wire reports

Published 5:15 pm, Friday, November 6, 2009

The military hasn't released the names of the 13 victims killed at Fort Hood. The following list of 11 of the victims was compiled from various news agencies, including the San Antonio Express-News, and based on interviews with their families.

His mother, Rhonda Thompson, told the Post her son had lined up a job as an Army contractor at nearby Fort Gordon, but was told to report to work at Fort Hood until paperwork for a medical discharge was completed. DeCrow battled sleep apnea.

Reservist John Gaffaney

Gaffaney, 56, of Serra Mesa, Calif., already had retired from the Army as a major, but longed to return to active duty in the Army National Guard, according to the Washington Post.

However, a board kept rejecting the trained psychiatric nurse because he had a hearing problem, Ellen Schmeding, a San Diego county government administrator told the Post.

"We all admired and respected John so very much for his commitment to do what he could to help during the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was an inspiration to all of us in so many ways," Schmeding wrote to co-workers Friday.

"I just remember that Amy was a very good kid, who like most kids in a small town are just looking for what their next step in life was going to be and she chose the military," Talerico said. "Once she got into the military, she really connected with that kind of lifestyle and was really proud to serve her country."

Nemelka, 19, of the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan, Utah, chose to join the Army instead of going on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his uncle Christopher Nemelka said.

"As a person, Aaron was as soft and kind and as gentle as they come, a sweetheart," his uncle said. "What I loved about the kid was his independence of thought."

Aaron Nemelka, the youngest of four children, was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan in January, his family said in a statement. Nemelka had enlisted in the Army in October 2008, Utah National Guard Lt. Col. Lisa Olsen said.

Pearson joined the Army about a year ago and hadn't yet deployed overseas, said his former sister-in-law Sharon Craig.

She said Pearson, 21, was training to defuse bombs and was scheduled to deploy to Iraq in January.

His parents "are very angry about the whole situation," she said. "I'm disgusted that my brother-in-law joined the Army to serve the United States only to be killed on United States soil by a person in the Army."

Craig lived with Pearson in the mid-1990s when he was a boy, and she said she still remembers him as a tall, skinny, dark-haired child.

"He was so sweet, so quiet," she said. "He loved music."

She said Pearson was swift with computers, talented at guitar and wanted to attend college for music.

She said she would have to break the news to her 12-year-old son, Pearson's nephew, who idolized his uncle.

"Breaking it isn't the problem," she said. "Explaining it is going to be the problem. How do I explain that?"

Seager, 51, of Mount Pleasant, Wis., was a "quiet helper" who joined the military a few years ago, his uncle, Larry Seager, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

He told the Journal Sentinel his nephew has taught classes at Bryant & Stratton College in Milwaukee since 2005 and was pursuing a doctorate of education.

The uncle said he was surprised when he learned his nephew, a licensed registered nurse and advanced practice nurse prescriber, had joined the military, but that working with soldiers fit with his personality.

"I imagine he read about the boys and girls having trouble and he wanted to help out," Larry Seager told the newspaper.

Russell Seager led a mental health team at Zablocki VA Medical Center in Wisconsin, according to WUWM-FM.

"I've always had a great deal of respect for the military and for service, and I just felt it was time that I stepped up and did it, actually," he told the radio station. "I mean, it sounds corny and patriotic, but when you talk to people that decide to do this, the feelings are similar."

Francheska Velez

Chicagoan Velez, 21, was pregnant and preparing to return home. A friend of Velez's, Sasha Ramos, described her as a fun-loving person who wrote poetry and loved dancing.

"She was like my sister," said Ramos, 21. "She was the most fun and happy person you could know. She never did anything wrong to anybody."

Family members said Velez had recently returned from deployment in Iraq and had sought a lifelong career in the Army.

"She was a very happy girl and sweet," said her father, Juan Guillermo Velez. "She had the spirit of a child."

Ramos, who also served briefly in the military, couldn't reconcile that her friend was killed in this country - just after leaving a war zone.

"It makes it a lot harder," she said. "This is not something a soldier expects - to have someone in our uniform go start shooting at us."

Warman, 55, of Pittsburgh spent most of her career in the military, said her sister, Margaret Yaggie of Roaring Branch, Pa.

Warman, a military physician's assistant, attended Pittsburgh Langley High School and put herself through school at the University of Pittsburgh, her sister said. The family was notified of her death early Friday. She had two daughters and six grandchildren, her sister said.

Kham Xiong, 23, of St. Paul, Minn., a 2004 graduate of Community of Peace Academy, enjoyed hunting and fishing.

"The sad part is that he had been taught and been trained to protect and to fight. Yet it's such a tragedy that he did not have the opportunity to protect himself and the base," his father, Chor Xiong, told KSTP-TV through an interpreter.

Xiong's 17-year-old brother, Robert, described Kham as "the family clown, just a real good outgoing guy."

Community of Peace Academy Principal Tim McGowan told the AP that Chor Xiong informed the charter school of his son's death. Family members picked up pictures of Xiong on Friday for a memorial service, McGowan said.

"He was just a well-rounded individual with a great personality. He was very fun-loving, one who brought a smile to everyone's face he came across," McGowan said.